Wounded in the IED explosion were one PSG official, six enlisted personnel and two regular troops. The identities of the wounded soldiers were not immediately available. One of them was seriously wounded.

Tan said the troops were in a convoy of vehicles carrying PSG personnel, Radio-Television-Malacanang (RTVM), and escorted by 103rd Infantry Brigade troops when one of the vehicles hit an improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned out as a landmine.

Tan said a Presidential chopper immediately airlifted the seriously injured and four others to an undisclosed medical facility for emergency care.

The PSG and RTVM personnel are in Lanao del Sur in preparation for the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to get first hand information on the ground in the ongoing offensive against the Maute terror group.

The offensive started when the terror group occupied an unoccupied town hall of Butig, Lanao del Sur. PNA